Pubdate: Tue, 24 Apr 2018
Source: Baltimore Sun (MD)
Copyright: 2018 The Baltimore Sun Company
Contact: http://www.baltimoresun.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/37
VAPING MAY LEAD TO POT SMOKING AMONG TEENS, NEW STUDY SHOWS
Teens who use e-cigarettes may be more likely to try marijuana in the
future, especially if they start vaping at a younger age, a new study
shows.
More than 1 in 4 teenagers who reported e-cigarette use eventually
progressed to smoking pot, according to the survey of more than 10,000
teens.
That compared with just 8 percent of non-vapers, said lead researcher
Hongying Dai, senior biostatistician with Children's Mercy Hospital in
Kansas City, Mo.
Further, teens who started vaping early had a greater risk of
subsequent marijuana use.
Kids aged 12 to 14 who used e-cigarettes were 2.7 times more likely to
try marijuana than their peers, compared with a 1.6 times greater risk
for teens who tried vaping between 15 and 17.
"Our findings suggest that the widespread use of e-cigarettes among
youth may have implications for uptake of other drugs of abuse beyond
nicotine and tobacco products," Dai said.
For the study, Dai and her colleagues twice surveyed 10,364 kids aged
12 to 17 -- once in 2013-2014, and again a year later.
The researchers found that teens who'd reported using e-cigarettes in
the first wave were more likely to have tried marijuana for the first
time during the subsequent year.
Results also showed that 12- to 14-year-olds who had tried e-cigs were
2.5 times more likely to become heavy marijuana users, smoking pot at
least once a week.
Worse still, the researchers found that the more often young teens
used e-cigarettes, the more likely they were to either try marijuana
or become a heavy pot smoker.
Dai said the nicotine contained in e-cigarette vapor could be altering
the brain chemistry of young teens.
"The brain is still developing during the teen years; nicotine
exposure might lead to changes in the central nervous system that
predisposes teens to dependence on other drugs of abuse," Dai said.
It's also possible that experimenting with e-cigarettes might increase
a teen's curiosity about marijuana, and reduce any worries about
marijuana use, Dai added.
Additionally, kids who use e-cigarettes could be more likely to run
with a crowd that tries other substances, said Dai and Dr. Scott
Krakower, assistant unit chief of psychiatry at Zucker Hillside
Hospital in Glen Oaks, N.Y.
"E-cigarettes are going to be in the same drug culture as other
things," Krakower said.
These findings should be concerning to parents because kids might not
stop at trying marijuana, he said.
"If you go to marijuana, is that going to lead to pills? Is that going
to lead to something else?" Krakower said. "When we see progression to
another substance, it's like the 'and then what' cascade -- they went
to marijuana, and then what?"
Since this is a survey, it can't prove a cause-and-effect
relationship. And it's possible that wild, risk-taking teens who try
e-cigarettes are predisposed to be adventurous with other drugs, Dai
and Krakower said.
"It could be that they have more of that sensation-seeking
personality, and if they pick up one they're going to pick up the
other," Krakower said.
But Dai said her team took that into account, and even after adjusting
for sensation seeking, "ever e-cigarette use was still significantly
associated with subsequent marijuana use."
Krakower recommends that parents look for warning signs of e-cigarette
use -- marked irritability, hiding things, skirting the truth -- and
put their foot down.
"There should be zero tolerance for this kind of behavior," Krakower
said.
Gregory Conley, president of the American Vaping Association, agreed.
"E-cigarettes are adult products and are not intended for youth of any
age," Conley said. "We agree with the authors' conclusion that more
education is needed to help young people understand the consequences
of using age-restricted products and illicit drugs."
The new study was published online in April in the journal Pediatrics.
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MAP posted-by: Matt